


Pretty Little Psycho

by FangFero



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Drama, Friendship, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2018-12-03 12:14:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11532003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FangFero/pseuds/FangFero
Summary: Mordecai finds something odd on a trip out to the Dust, and his curiosity gets the better of him.Alternatively: Mordecai adopts a psycho and raises it as his own.





	1. The Dust pt. 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, my first Borderlands fic. Okay... Umm, it's going to seem a little choppy at first because I'm never good at first chapters, but it'll get smoother and more in depth as the story goes on. Just bare with me for a little bit and please feel free to leave comments and criticisms.
> 
> No beta, just throwing it into the heap as I go!  
> Tags and ratings are subject to change as the story progresses.

Mordecai sighed to himself for the umpteenth time as he drove further out into the sandy wasteland, chuckling to himself as he splattered a rogue spiderant under the technicals tires.

 

He was on his way out to The Dust to meet up with Ellie; a request he received from Moxxi earlier that day. He had originally tried to refuse.

 

“And why exactly would I want to do you any favours Mox?” He had rolled his eyes and huffed, crossing his thin arms across his chest, thankful nobody could see into his goggles. While this was about as civil as the two could be together in the same room, he didn’t really want to start a real fight.

 

Moxxi mirrored his unimpressed stance, folding her arms under her chest, pushing up her impressive bust a little more. 

 

“Listen, you weren’t exactly my first choice either, but I’m concerned for Ellie’s safety.”

 

Mordecai shrugged. “Ellie’s a big girl, she can take care of herself, can’t she?”

 

Moxxi shook her head. “It’s bad enough she’s living right in the middle of bandit county, but Scooter tells me there might be psychos out there as well. Bandits are one thing, but psychos are so unpredictable.”

 

Mordecai raised a brow at the mention of psychos. While he believed Ellis could handle herself out in The Dust, even he had to admit you could never be too careful with psychos running about. 

 

Moxxi sighed after a moment of silence from the hunter, dropping her arms in defeat. “Fine, if you do this favour for me, I’ll waive your bar tab. How’s that sound?” 

 

Mordecai tilted his head back, thinking it over before grinning. “Alright, I’ll go take a look. But I’m telling you Mox, you’re worrying for nothing.”

 

That’s what brought Mordecai here, pulling into Ellie’s junkyard and hopping out of his truck just as Ellie herself came sauntering out of her garage to greet him.

 

“Well hey there Mordy! Been a while since you came out for a visit,” Ellie greeted, coming over to give the lanky man a slap on the back that made him stumble a step before grinning up at him. “What brings you all the way out here?”

 

Mordecai recovered from his fumble and straightened back up, clearing his throat before he spoke. “Ah, you mom sent me out here to check up on you.” He paused and held his hands up when he noticed her about to start shouting about her mother. “She heard from Scooter you’ve got some strange people hanging out in your junk yard?”

 

Ellie sighed and shook her head. She wouldn’t yell at Mordecai, it wasn’t any of his fault. “Well, I’ve got some stragglers around sure. Nobody that’s causing any trouble though, or I’d have taken care of them myself long ago.”

 

Mordecai nodded. He believed her. If the amount of a suspicious gooey red substance oozing from the crusher to his right was any indication of how well Ellie could take care of herself. 

 

Still he shrugged. “Well, you mind if I take a look around anyway? I just know Moxxi will know if I don’t at least check it out.”

 

Ellie shrugged. “Feel free, but there ain’t anything too interesting out there.”

 

Mordecai nodded and turned to head further into the scrap yard while Ellie headed back into her garage. 

 

There wasn’t much to see, that was for sure. Stacks of rusted metal scraps piled high over the hunter’s head, and more sand. There was a bandit leaning up against the side of Ellie’s garage sulking, but he seemed peaceful enough. 

 

True to her word, there wasn’t much around in the old dusty scrap yard. Mordecai squinted against the bright desert sun to try and see through the glare in his goggles. 

 

There was something, way out in the distance near the end of the scrap yard, but he wasn’t quite sure what it was. He lowered his hand to the digi-struct module on his leg to produce one of his rifles with a higher zoom, bringing it up to look through the scope.

 

There was someone out there. All he could see from this angle was a slender body, hunched over an old dried up skag pile in the dirt. Their hair was dark and grown out to about the center of their back, while the right side of their head had been shaved clean. He recognised the bright yellow fabric of the person’s loose pants though. Hyperion. Not nice enough to actually be an employee. A prisoner then?

 

Mordecai held his breath when the person slowly turned around to face him. There was a thick steel collar around their neck, only a few chain links hanging from it where it had been broken. Definitely a prisoner then. He looked at their face and saw the mask framing the person’s lower jaw. It looked more like a muzzle than anything else; starting at the bridge of their nose and covering their mouth.

 

A psycho.

 

The prisoner blinked slowly and Mordecai finally noticed through his scope, it looked as though this person was staring right into his eyes. That’s impossible though right? He’s too far away to be seen. 

 

The person stood up slowly, eyes still locked with the hunter through his rifle’s scope and turned to face him completely. The tank top they wore hung loosely off their frame and Mordecai could see now the intricate swirls on their left bicep. Tattoos?

 

“A siren?” Mordecai mumbled to himself, and while lost in his contemplation, the person darted off behind a stack of crushed metal and disappeared. 

 

“Hey,” Mordecai cried out and sprinted off, trying to catch up with the prisoner and find them, but he couldn’t find them anywhere through the maze of scrap. 

 

“Damn it,” he sighed. While turning to walk back to the garage, he pushed a button of the device in his ear, shooting off a quick Echo message. “Hey Lilith, I found something kinda weird out in The Dust, could use a second opinion on it. Let me know when you’re free.” With that he turned his Echo off and went back to chat with Ellie.

 

“So you find anything interesting out there,” Ellie asked when she came back out.

 

“Kinda,” Mordecai mumbled and shook his head. “You know you got a psycho out there?”

 

“Gangly thing? Dark hair, kinda spooky?”

 

“That a yes then?”

 

Ellie waved her hand dismissively. “Oh shoot yeah. I know about her! Came here about a few months ago actually. Doesn’t cause no harm, and she does a pretty good job keeping the spiderants away.”

 

“Her?” So it was a girl.

 

“Yeah, never gave me a name. Doesn’t talk much. Don’t think she even can with that thing over her mouth, so I can’t tell you much about her.”

 

Mordecai hummed, thinking about what to do next. “Is it alright if I bring Lilith back here to take a look. Something about this psycho seems a little odd to me.”

 

“You’re free to come back anytime Mordy, just be careful. Don’t spook the poor thing either. She startles real easy and then it’s near impossible to find her again.”

 

“Might be a little late for that,” Mordecai mumbled under his breath, but shrugged and started to make his way back to his technical. “Thanks again Ellie, we’ll be back later.”

 

Ellie waved as he started the truck and started to back out of the garage. “Take care now, ya here?”


	2. The Dust pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Six sirens in the entire universe, they can't all be on Pandora!

A week had passed before Mordecai returned to Ellie’s scrap yard with Lilith. She was more than eager to tag along when Mordecai had mentioned it could have been a possible siren he saw. He had doubts, but Lilith was still willing to look into it. Especially if it meant she got to get out in the sun for once.

The sun was hot and high in the sky when they drove in through the entrance, parking the technical in the garage and walking around back to the junkyard. Lilith deciding to go in unarmed, but Mordecai had one of his rifles out already.

He stopped short when he noticed a dot off in the distance and held an arm out to stop Lilith as well. She looked around confused, trying to spot what Mordecai did but saw nothing. 

Mordecai raised the rifled to his face and looked through the scope. Sure enough there was the girl he saw a week ago, awkwardly hunched over a bag in the shade of a tall stack of scrap, trying to stay out of the heat of the blistering sun.

“Out there,” Mordecai pointed and handed his rifle over to Lilith, who lifted it to her face for a peek and then frowned.

“I’m not sure. I need a closer look, but I doubt that’s a siren. That mark on her arm looks more like a bruise from here.”

Mordecai took his rifle back and shrugged. “Well let’s see if we can get closer then.”

Together they started walking further into the dusty field. They were about thirty feet away when the girl’s head shot up to stare wide eyed at them, dragging the worn backpack closer to her chest. 

Both parties hesitated, silently staring at each other, waiting for the other to make a move. 

Lilith was the first to move, slowly reaching over to place a hand on Mordecai’s forearm, making him lower his rifle. “Relax,” she spoke softly, more to the girl in front of them, but it eased Mordecai as well. “We just want to talk, alright?”

The girl turned her gaze to Lilith, pausing a moment before nodding slowly. Her gaze went down to the bare arm of the siren and she tensed further, her hand flying up to the mark on her own arm and squeezing it tightly.

Lilith flinched slightly from the girl’s sudden movement but remained calm, holding up her hands passively. “Hey, it’s alright, we’re not here to hurt you, okay? Actually, we wanted to ask about that mark on your arm.”

The girl pulled her hand away and looked down at the swirling mark on her own arm, then back up at Lilith, tilting her head to the side like a confused bird. 

Lilith stepped forward and crouched down in front of the girl and smiled at her. “Do you know where those markings came from,” she asked softly.

The girl nodded, raising her hands and tipping her head back, trying to think of how to tell them before settling on raising her index fingers and bringing them together from her sides in a twisting motion.

Lilith blinked owlishly for a moment before standing up straight and looking back at an equally confused Mordecai. “Yeah, I have no idea what that means.”

The girl dropped her arms and lowered her head, shaking it slowly like she was disappointed in them. She blinked and then looked up at them, waving her hand to get their attention before pointed down and tugging on her pant leg before pointing at the large “H” embroidered on the bright yellow fabric.

Mordecai’s brows knit further in confusion before he mumbled, “Hyperion?”

The girl snapped her fingers and pointed at him, nodding.

“So Hyperion did this to your arm,” Lilith questioned and sighed. She had been excited to meet a new siren, but all she got was a mute psycho in the Dust. “I don’t know what happened, but she’s no siren Mordecai.”

“Well, what should we do with her? We can’t just leave her out here alone can we,” Mordecai asked and Lilith only shrugged. 

“She’s been doing fine so far. Maybe we could leave her with a little food?” Lilith folder her arms and sighed. “I don’t know. I’m not an expert on taking care of kids! Can we really bring a psycho back to sanctuary though?”

Mordecai shrugged. “I don’t think Roland would appreciate it, but she doesn’t seem like any other psycho. She understands what we’re saying, and seems to be trying to give us straight answers.”

“Well, maybe we should ask her?”

Mordecai frowned, but a scuffle behind him made him forget about Lilith. When he turned back, the girl was gone.

“Wait a minute,” he called out and quickly scurried around the scrap heap to try and find where the girl ran off too, but she was nowhere in sight. He spat a curse under his breath and sighed, turning to head back towards the garage.

Lilith followed along beside him. “Maybe we can find her later, I mean she doesn’t look that fit, I doubt she’d get far.”

Mordecai shook his head. “No, I’ll find her later. It was risky enough bringing you out here with me today.”

Lilith pouted and folded her arms again. “Don’t treat me like a kid just because you’re an old man.”

Mordecai frowned at the insult before smiling bitterly at her. “Then don’t pout like a child.”

Lilith huffed and lowered her arms to her sides. “Okay fine. But promise me you will take care of this girl.”

Mordecai sighed. “I promise I will try to get her somewhere safe at least.”

Lilith nodded and climbed back into the truck. “I’ll accept that.”


	3. Welcome To Sanctuary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mordecai gains the trust of the little psycho and brings her back to Sanctuary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I've finally found a path for this story so hopefully it'll be a bit better read. Let me know if you find it interesting at all.
> 
> Also sorry this one is WAY longer than the last two. It was getting out of hand so I kind of cut it off and I'll pick it back up in the next one. Let me know if you prefer longer or shorter chapters. :)

It had been a few weeks of Mordecai heading out to Ellie’s scrap yard, sitting atop the roof of her garage and looking through his sniper’s scope to search for the young girl he thought was a siren. She may not be, but she was still a kid that probably needed help.

Mordecai scoffed at the thought as he sat cross legged yet again on the roof, searching the scrap yard for her. When did he start getting soft. He remembered it wasn’t that long ago when he first got to Pandora and he was reluctant to help or be helped. He’d always been selfish with loot he found, even if he couldn’t carry anymore in his bags, and he’d always been rude to the people he called friends now when they fell in a firefight. “Don’t make me pick you up again!” Something he’d used to growl all the time to Brick when he would run straight into the line of fire. 

He sighed. He still missed that big idiot.

Mordecai blinked and checked his scope again and sure enough, there was the girl he’d been looking for. He had tried getting close to her for about a week now but she’d always notice him and scurry into hiding again.

He watched her as she left the scrap yard, shovel in hand; a tool that Mordecai had thought was a buzzaxe when he first saw it at a distance, but later realised it was something she’d found in the scrap yard to help her on her excursions. She mostly left to dig around in skag and spiderant piles, looking for pieces of scrap metal or gun pieces she could sell. It reminded Mordecai of a chicken scratching around looking for seed. She’d occasionally kill the odd spiderant that was heading into Ellie’s yard by decapitating it with said shovel, but mostly she seemed like a peaceful scavenger. Even most of the bandit clans around the dust let her move around their camps freely without and trouble. 

Until today it seems.

There were only a few, large marauders though, much taller and broader than her. While she was distracted, jumping down on her shovel to take off the head of a soldier spiderant, one of the marauders rushed up behind her and tried to yank her bag off her back.

She flailed and righted herself in time, digging her heels into the dirt and lurching forward to yank her way out of her grip, only to run head first into the other one. Luckily a moron, as he stumbled back and looked for instruction from the other two to grab her. 

Before he could though, she rammed the handle of her shovel into his diaphragm, making him him double over and wheeze before she tried to take off. The other two men’s legs were much longer than hers though and it didn’t take much for them to catch up. One easily scooping her up from under her arms and lifting her off her feet.

“You got guts doing that to a bandit!” The one holding her shouted.

The other came up in front of her and leaned in close to study her face. “Hey, I recognise this mask,” he murmered before straightening up to look at his friend. “Forget her bag, this girl’s got a bounty on her head. Let’s hand her back to Hyperion and colle-”

He didn’t get to finish his thought before his head exploded.

Mordecai stood now, the barrel of his rifle still smoking from the shot. He trained his sights on the last standing marauder, still holding her. He couldn’t get a clean shot though.

The girl brought her legs up to her chest before swiftly bringing them back down and kicking the man behind her hard in his groin. He cried out and groaned, dropping her to hold his junk and drop to his knees.

The girl took the opportunity to run a few yards away before she heard the blast of a rifle, and the sickening crack of skull being destroyed by a high caliber bullet.

She slowed to a stop and turned, looking back toward Ellie’s garage. From Mordecai’s view, it was as if she were staring him down right through his scope.

Mordecai lowered his rifle and the girl started to come back toward the garage. 

Mordecai was already on the ground when the girl got back. She calmly came over to him and looked up with a slow nod, the only way she knew how to thank him for his help.

He looked down at her and smiled. The top of her head only coming up to his shoulder, and her arms were thinner than even his. She was just a child and he wanted to help her, but wasn’t exactly sure how.

“Uhh… can you speak kid,” he asked. She slowly shook her head no, before raising her hand to tug on the mask covering her nose and mouth. It was only now that Mordecai noticed the hard material and straps of this muzzle digging into her face. How long had she been forced to wear this thing anyway.

“Oh, okay. Well, can you tell me how old you are?” There was a pause, before the girl raised her hand, holding up all ten of her fingers, before lowering one hand and holding up four on her left. 

“You’re fourteen,” Mordecai asked and she nodded. He hummed and idly scratched his beard. For a psycho, she comprehended and responded pretty well. Maybe she wasn’t after all.

“Do you like living out here, in the dust I mean?” 

The girl only shrugged. 

Mordecai sighed, trying to think of the right questions to ask. 

“Well, you… hate Hyperion, right?” Mordecai jumped back when the girl slammed her shovel down into the sand, glaring at him before stomping her foot, making the dust rise up before nodding her head furiously.

“I’ll take that as a yes then,” Mordecai started before looking back at his truck and pointing at it with his thumb. “You know, there’s a whole city of people that hate Hyperion too. Lost everything to Jack and his shit. If you want, maybe I can take you there. It’s safer than being out here, and you can help with the Hyperion resistance?”

The girl stopped stomping and tilted her head, looking back at the Ellie’s garage for a moment before looking back at him. There was a long pause as she stared at him, and Mordecai started to fidget, wondering if maybe she didn’t understand him after all, but she nodded and held her hand out.

Mordecai smiled and took her hand in his, shaking it before letting go. “Cool, come on, I’ll take you to Sanctuary.” The two started walking back to Mordecai’s technical, climbing in. Before Mordecai started the truck he asked, “Do you have a name?”

The girl paused again before shaking her head. Mordecai hummed as they drove off. “Well, for now I’m going to call you Pollito.” Mordecai glanced over to see the confused look in the girl’s eyes, making him chuckle quietly. “It means little chicken, because I watched you scratching in the dirt for scrap.”

The girl stared at him for a moment longer before nodding, accepting this name for herself and leaning back in her seat, looking out the window as she watched the landscape roll by in the distance.

 

________________________________________________________________

 

When they arrived in Sanctuary, Mordecai could feel the excitement vibrating off the girl that followed along beside him. Her head whipping back and forth as she took in the sights of the concrete city, making Mordecai grin.

“Hey, relax kid,” he reminded her. “Or you’re going to make people nervous. I can only vouch for you so much.”

The girl looked up at him and nodded, forcing herself to slow her straight and straighten her back. She almost looked like a soldier, and Mordecai rolled his eyes, thinking she’d fit right in with Roland and his team.

They came up to the Raider’s HQ and Mordecai carefully cracked the door open and peeked inside, opening it completely when he realised Tannis was nowhere to be seen. He didn’t really feel like playing twenty questions with her and having his new friend being tested on.

Mordecai motioned for her to follow and they went inside, and up the stairs to the mission room. Mordecai held his hand up for her to stop before going around the corner into the room where Roland stood over the table, looking over some maps.

“Hey Roland, what would you say if I said I brought a new recruit for you,” Mordecai asked, walking up to the side of the table Roland was leaning over. 

Roland only grunted, mumbling something about more hands to work and more mouths to feed before he straightened up to look at him, rubbing his tired eyes. 

“I suppose we could use the extra help around here. Where is he?”

Mordecai cringed slightly, he never did like being called soldier, but for the most part he tolerated it so he wouldn’t get into a fight with the him.

“Uhh, she’s actually in the hall,” Mordecai replied, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb towards the door. The girl could be seen through the slightly ajar though, looking off to the side, close enough to hear them talking but not really paying attention to them.

“You can come in Pollito,” Mordecai called, making her attention snap back to him. She stepped inside, suddenly seeming hesitant in the presence of an ex Lance soldier, and she shuffled up behind Mordecai.

Roland looked at her a incredulously. “This is your soldier,” he asked. “She’s just a kid.”

“Well,” Mordecai glanced back at her before looking back and Roland. “Less ‘soldier’, more ‘kid I found wandering around in the dust and thought maybe she’d be safer here’.” Mordecai shrugged and continued before Roland could open his mouth to argue. “Look, I know she doesn’t look like much, but I promise she’s totally safe, and maybe she can help the people out around Sanctuary.”

Roland frowned, looking the girl over while contemplating it. After a long moment he sighed, giving in. “Alright, she can stay here in the HQ for now until I can find her some better lodgings. For now, maybe you should take her to see Zed. Have that bruise on her arm looked at at least.”

Mordecai looked back at the girl and nodded. Right, she definitely needed some medical attention.

“Come on kid,” Mordecai mumbled and took her by the wrist, leading her along down the stairs and out onto the street again. He lead her over to Zed’s clinic, stopping before he pushed open the door. “Uhh, how do you feel about blood?”

Before she could answer in any way, a blood curdling scream tore itself from inside the clinic, making her jump and grip Mordecai’s slender arm tightly. He patted her hand reassuringly before leading her reluctantly inside. By the time they entered, Zed came out from a small section of the back, closing the curtain behind him while taking off the pair of bloodied gloves he was wearing.

“Mordecai! Welcome back son, always a pleasure to see you,” Zed chirped happily as he walked over, stopping a few feet away when he noticed the terrified child. “This a new recruit of Roland’s?”

Mordecai looked down and her. “Uhh, something like that. She’s got this weird mark on her arm, and she’s kinda skinny. Which is something coming from me but, can you take a look at her?”

Zed went to step closer to them to get a better look, but the girl jumped back and turned to bolt out the door, but was stopped when someone else came in and blocked her exit. She whipped her head around in a panic but Mordecai rushed up and hugged her shoulders tight, making her flail her legs to escape. 

“Hey, calm down Pollito,” Mordecai shouted as he struggled to hold onto her. “It’s alright, I promise he won’t hurt you!”

After a moment she slowed down and stopped kicking, doubling over Mordecai’s arms around her and trying to catch her breath. With such a thing frame she only had moments of burst energy, but it quickly drained her.

Mordecai slowly let her go but she still slumped back against him, glaring at Zed standing in front of her.

Mordecai rubbed her arm and helped her stand up straight. “Look,” he said, more softly now that she had calmed down. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be right here the whole time, so I’ll make sure he won’t hurt you, okay?”

There was a pause, but eventually the girl nodded slowly and she stood on her own, going over the the clean exam table and carefully pulling herself up to sit on it. 

“Okay darlin’, why don’t you lay down and I’ll just take a quick peek. If I make you nervous, we’ll stop right away.” Zed motioned for her to lie down, and his words calmed her a bit more. She swung her legs onto the table, shifting sideways and laid down on the metal table.

In her vision all she could see was Mordecai standing over her, watching Zed as he examined her. Her fists clenched when he pushed her shirt up just below her chest and stopped. 

“Oh dear,” Zed mumbled to himself. “No wonder you’re so thin. Can’t imagine it’s easy finding sustenance with that thing in.”

“Wait, what is it,” Mordecai asked and stepped over to take a look. The girl was all pale skin stretched painfully over ribs far too visible, even to him. There on the left side of her belly was a small tube with a capped end taped to her skin, coming from a small healed up hole in her side.

“Feeding tube,” Zed explained. “Probably so they don’t have to take that muzzle off to feed her.” 

“Well can’t we take it out,” Mordecai asked, a more distressed lilt in his voice this time. He didn’t know this child, but it was still upsetting.

Zed shook his head. “I recommend leaving it in for now. At least here we can probably make a better solution for her to get her back up to a healthy weight. Then perhaps we can consider removing it.”

Mordecai frowned but didn’t argue. 

“Otherwise she seems fine. I mean aside from these purple marks on her arm, but maybe Tannis should have a look at that.”

Mordecai glanced again at the girl’s arm. The swirling marks that covered a band around her bicep, like an incomplete set of the siren mark’s Lilith had, but not. Lilith had said so. But they were too intricate to just be an injury. 

Mordecai shook his head, he wasn’t going to worry about it right now. He took the girl’s hand and helped her off the table. 

“Let’s go see if Roland found you a bed huh?”

The girl nodded, squeezing Mordecai’s hand before following him out and back to the HQ, leaving her with Roland to get set up in Sanctuary.


	4. Mordy's Little Psycho and Roland's Little Soldier

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mordecai helps the young girl get settled in and then leaves. Then Roland goes missing. This is how people develop abandonment issues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to Wilwarindi for beta and editing. This story would be an even bigger mess without her. :)

A bed, some clothes, and a small amount previsions to replace the junk that was in her backpack were waiting for her. True to his word, Roland was ready to help care for this new child in Sanctuary. She had declined the food he offered her as it would be useless to her, though.

 

“How do you eat anyway?” Roland asked the girl, sitting down with her and Mordecai back at the HQ while he was still finding her a room to stay in. She could not simply remove the mask. The buckle had broken long ago, and the straps were so tight from having grown up wearing it that they were digging into the sides of her face.

 

“She’s got a feeding tube in,” Mordecai explained for her, trying to ignore how Rolan’s eyes shot up. Roland smoothed his expression quickly, but that second of horror didn’t escape Mordecai’s gaze. “She’s fine, just needs a liquid diet.”

 

The girl lifted her hand and waved to get their attention before reaching into the front pocket of her backpack and pulling out some small foil packets and a syringe.

 

Both men leaned in to watch as she tore open one of the packets.She took one of the water bottles Roland had given her and poured some water carefully into the packet. She mixed it together with her finger before picking up the syringe and drawing the solution in. She set the package aside and lifted her shirt, opening the end of the tube before pushing the end of the syringe into the opening and slowly pushing the solution in. 

 

She cringed a little at the cold solution being sucked into her stomach, but after a moment it was gone. She set the syringe down and closed the tube back up before lowering her shirt again and looking up at the two men expectantly.

 

Roland shook his head after a moment. That wasn’t the most disturbing thing he’d ever seen, but it was definitely top twenty. “And you can do that with any puree,” he asked.

 

The girl shrugged before nodding, figuring it couldn’t hurt if it was blended well enough.

 

“Maybe take her to see Moxxi?” Roland turned to see Mordecai’s slack jaw. Before Roland could correct himself, Mordecai was already folding his arms and sneering.

 

“No way, she’s just going to make me do her another favour!”

 

Roland sighed. “Come on Mordecai, this isn’t for you alright? Do it for the kid?”

 

Mordecai relaxed a bit but continued to grumble. “If it’s so important, why don’t you do it?”

 

“Because I’m still busy here. And did you already forget that  _ you _ were the one who brought her here? All you have to do is explain the situation to Moxxi and then you can leave. Can you handle that?”

 

Mordecai still pouted, but he sighed and stood up. “Yeah alright.”

 

“Thank you. Now, I think we’ll need something to cover up that mask until we can figure out how to get it off without hurting her,” Roland mused as he got up and left the room. He headed to the room across the hall that was usually locked, and came back with a Crimson Raider helmet. He brought it back over to the girl and handed  it to her. “Here, why don’t you try this on and see if it’ll fit.”

 

The girl stared down at the helmet in her hands for a long moment, before she looked back at Roland, shaking her head and gently tossing the helmet onto the floor beside her.

 

Roland pursed his lips, feeling offended by the gesture, and Mordecai sat behind him with a gloved hand slapped over his mouth. A snort escaped him but he quickly cleared his throat to cover up the sound.

 

Roland recovered and cleared his throat. “Okay. You’ll have to think of something then, Mordecai. I don’t need mass hysteria because people think a psycho got into Sanctuary.”

 

Mordecai rolled his eyes behind his goggles and motioned to her with one hand. “Roland, look at her. Does she look like a psycho to you? She’s fine. Nobody’s going to worry. They just have to get used to her.”

 

Roland sighed and shook his head. “Fine. Just take her to Moxxi’s and get this food thing sorted out, alright? This girl is thinner than you.”

 

Mordecai hurr hurred under his breath before standing and motioning for the girl to follow him. She gathered up her belongings and stuffed them back in her bag before jumping up to follow him outside again.

 

Mordecai led her down to the Moxxi’s bar, holding her wrist so as not to lose her in the crowd as he fought his way to the counter. The girl  pulled herself up onto a stool when he let her go. Her eyes widened when Moxxi came up to them, enraptured by her makeup.

 

“You’re a little young to be drinking here, don’t you think, sugar?” Moxxi asked, making the girl nod dumbly.

 

Moxxi grinned and shook her head before leaning on the bar and raising a brow at Mordecai. “Sweetie, you want to tell me why there’s a psycho sitting at my bar?”

 

Mordecai shrugged. “Remember when you wanted me to check up on Ellie? Well turns out this is the psycho you were so worried about. Just a kid digging around for gun parts.”

 

Moxxi huffed and stood back, folding her arms under her chest. “I had every right to be worried. She still looks like a psycho.” 

 

The girl lowered her head slightly and looked away. Moxxi sighed and shook her head. “You’re alright, sugar. You’ve caused less problems in the time you’ve been here than some of my best customers.” Moxxi paused and turned back to Mordecai. “So, what do you need then?”

 

“Roland told me to come in here and see if you can make meals for the kid,” Mordecai explained, perching himself up on a stool himself.

 

“Excuse me, but I already got four kids of my own,” Moxxi yelped, clearing her throat after she slightly slipped back into a southern drawl before continuing in her character voice again. “I don’t have time to take care of another kid.”

 

“Jesus, Moxxi, I’m not asking you to raise the kid or anything. You’re the only one in Sanctuary with a blender. She needs, like, liquid food. All you have to do is blend her food up for her.”

 

Moxxi hummed and looked the teenager over again. “Well, alright. I can manage that. But  _ this _ makes us even, so you can say goodbye to that tab of yours.”

 

Mordecai groaned, but he sighed when he saw the girl looking up at him. “Yeah, alright. But I’m not doing you any more favours Mox.”

 

Moxxi shrugged, and Mordecai stood up and grabbed the girl’s arm, having to drag her out of the bar, grumbling under his breath about how he didn’t want Moxxi’s attitude to rub off on the kid.

 

**________________________________________________________________________**

  
  


Mordecai stuck around until the girl was settled into a small apartment in one of the more run down buildings, but after checking it for pests and explosives, Mordecai decided it was fine for the girl to live in, and left.

 

When she went back to the HQ Roland told her Mordecai was off on a mission, but Roland was a terrible liar. Whether her mind was all together or not, she could see right through Roland’s attempt at deception. 

 

After a week in Sanctuary, some of the people started to relax around her, and she started doing odd jobs around the town for some extra cash. Especially for Moxxi. She liked Moxxi and liked her even more when she smiled at her. 

 

She often found herself at the bounty board, looking for anything to keep her busy. Most of it was deliveries. People felt nervous about her holding a weapon, but she could still run.

 

It was a few weeks later, when she had just come back to Sanctuary with a shipment of Raak Ale and aged whiskey for Moxxi, when she received a little present from Moxxi herself. Moxxi pulled her into a back room and handed her a purple SMG with her name painted on the side.

 

“Here you go, sugar. This is one of my favourite guns. My “Bad Touch” will keep you safe out there when you’re running errands for me. Can’t have a sweet little thing like you out there on her own with no means to protect herself.”

 

The girl looked down at the gun in her hands in awe, but raised her head and looked worriedly at Moxxi. She didn’t know how to shoot, she’s never held a gun before. Only broken parts. 

 

It took a moment for Moxxi to realise the fear in the girl’s eyes and smiled, placing her hands on her shoulders firmly. “You’ll do fine sweetheart. Just point and shoot. Eventually, you’ll hit something.”

 

The girl smiled, not that Moxxi could see it. She did try to give Moxxi a hug, but was easily stopped by the hands on her shoulder. 

 

“Yeah, yeah, I like you too, but don’t forget I’m kind of your boss as well,” Moxxi reminded her. and the girl stopped and stood back. 

 

“Here,” Moxxi said as she pulled out a small device while she watched the young girl struggle to find a spot for the gun on her person. “Take this digistruct, but if anyone asks, it’s only so you can carry stuff for me.”

 

Moxxi took a minute to show her how to use it before the girl strapped it to her thigh and put her gun away. She hopped excitedly and Moxxi smiled. “Alright kid, we had our sweet moment. Now back to work.”

 

The girl nodded and rushed back out onto the street, ready to leave for another shipment.

  
  


**_______________________________________________________________________**

  
  


The girl sat on the balcony of the Raider HQ. She hadn’t seen Roland for a few days and was looking out over the town for him. He had left for a mission, but he should have been back by now. 

 

She didn’t always get along perfectly with Roland, but he still tried to include her in things. He showed her some of the work he was doing and explain the history of the Vault Hunters to her.

 

She got excited when he’d told her the story of them participating in the Underdome. 

 

_ “Eventually, we all got so worn out we couldn’t compete anymore,” Roland chuckled and shook his head. “But I’d never seen Mordecai more excited for something. He took on the last few rounds of the Underdome all by himself, and he won. He really was quite a gunslinger… uhh, don’t tell him I said any of this though.” _

 

_ The girl only shrugged, bringing her thumb and finger pinched together to her masked lip and made a zipping motion. Not that she could say anything if she wanted to. _

 

But now Roland was missing, and after no calls from him, she was starting to get a bit worried.

 

Below her, a group of newcomers had gathered at the bottom of the stairs. There were three of them: A tall man with blonde hair wearing a military uniform, and a shorter gruff looking man hanging back with a young girl with a metal arm and blowing some bubble gum.

 

The girl watched and listened to their conversation when they were stopped by a Raider at the bottom of the stairs. “Ah, you must be the new vault hunters? Roland left a message for you inside,” he said and passed a key to the door over to the commando.

 

The girl hopped up and ran downstairs to join them on the lower floor where the soldier picked up an ECHO recorder and played it a recording of Roland saying he was in trouble, followed by the sound of gunfire and distressed noises from the Raider commander.

 

She gasped and stumbled from leaning in too far, and grabbed a hold of the commando’s sleeve for support. Her eyes widened and she took a step back and looked up at the man she’d grabbed onto, afraid he’d get mad at her, but he only turned and flashed her a handsome grin.

 

“Well, hello there darlin’, you live around here?” the commando asked, and the girl nodded. “This Roland a friend of yours?” Again, she nodded.

 

“Well I guess we better go find him then,” said the commando, passing the recorder back and turning to lead his small group out of town.

 

The girl’s eyes widened and she shuffled after them, tugging on the back of the soldier’s shirt to get his attention.

 

“What’s wrong, kiddo?” he asked as he turned around to face her. The girl patted her hand against her chest before pointing at him. It took a moment but eventually the man seemed to get it.

 

“Oh! You want to come with us? I don’t see why not. The more the merrier,” he grinned and reached out to shake her hand. “I’m Axton. These are my partners Gaige, and Salvador.” He pointed to each one in kind before crouching down. “And what’s your name?”

 

She hesitated, trying to think before she lifted her hand and showed him the barcode on the inside of her wrist with a series of numbers on it. Axton blinked owlishly before shaking his head. “Ah, you can’t speak huh. Well, can you mime your name for us?”

 

The girl rolled her eyes and tapped at the series of numbers tattooed on her wrist harder this time. Axton gave her another dumb look before he shook his head. “I’ll uh… just call you kid for now.”

 

She nodded at this. Whatever he wanted, as long as she got to go with them. They all turned and headed off the the entrance of the town.

 

“We have a few others in our group,” Axton explained as they all started to pile up in his borrowed technical. “But they’re off on their own mission. We’ll send them the coordinates to find this Firehawk Scooter mentioned while we work on finding Roland. We’ll meet back up with them in Sanctuary later.”

 

Gaige turned in her seat to look at her, leaning in and grinning. “So like, are you really a psycho?” The girl just shrugged in response. Some said she was, some said she wasn’t. She didn’t know anymore.

 

Axton gasped, eyes widen but didn’t take his as he looks at her in the mirror. “Gaige, you can’t just ask someone if they’re a psycho!”

 

Gaige huffed and sat back in her seat. “Fine, you’re so boring.”

 

Salvador grumbled from his place perched in the gunner seat. “I don’t know how I feel about bringing a psycho along with us. She’s too calm!”

 

Axton shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Do you really want her screaming and trying to kill us right now?”

 

“It’d certainly make me feel better about it,” Salvador grumbled as he slouched back. “I know what to do with a screaming psycho. Don’t know what to do with a quiet one. It’s like she’s plotting.”

 

The girl looked back at Salvador and shook her head, trying to reassure him a little, but she was sure it didn’t help much. 

 

“Don’t psychos usually have a fall face mask, though?” Gaige pointed out. “She only has a half mask. Maybe she’s only like, half psycho?”

 

Axton looked back at the girl in the mirror and winked. “You just wanna help us find this Roland guy, right?” She perked up and nodded. “See? She’s cool guys, relax.”

 

Salvador did relax back into his seat and sighed. “Fine, but I’m not taking any chances if she starts getting twitchy.

 

The girl turned back to look at him and held a thumbs up. This time, it did reassure Salvador somewhat.

 

“Ooh, here kid! If you’re gonna be rolling with us, you gotta have a shield,” Gaige said, turning to her and pulling a green shield from her own digistruct before leaning over to clip it to the girl’s belt. A web of light wrapped itself around the young psycho before disappearing.

 

With that, they rode in comfortable silence until they got to the Bloodshot Stronghold.

 

**_______________________________________________________________________**

  
  


They had fought for hours getting through the Bloodshots; Gaige and Axton up front, tearing bandits and psychos apart with Deathtrap and his turrets. Salvador was content to take out any stragglers with his tommy guns. The girl stayed back, behind the turrets like Axton told her to do. She didn’t want to listen to him, but he warned her that in the heat of battle, they might mistake her for any other psycho and accidentally shoot her, and she agreed she didn’t want that either.

 

The group finally sauntered up to the cell that Roland was in, lounging back and waiting patiently. He sat up when he heard them come near. 

 

“Vault hunters! Good to finally meet you in person. Hell of a job fighting through those Bloodshots--”

 

There was a mechanical whirring on the other side of the wall farthest from them until it came crumbling down in a small explosion, and two gunloaders came shambling in.

 

“This will just take a second,” Roland said before he jumped up from his seat on the bed and tackled the first loader to the ground. He yanked  out it’s core and tossed it at the second loader, causing another small explosion, enough to take out the robot.

 

A third loader bot came bulldozing its way in and knocked Roland back against the cell door. The girl rushed over and crouched down to see if he was okay, but Roland had already turned toward the bot, using the second bot’s gun arm and shooting the third bot directly in it’s eye, incapacitating it.

 

Roland stood and dusted himself off. “Well, that’s that. Wait,” he stopped when he noticed the girl standing there, his eyes narrowed. “Kid, what are you doing here?”

 

Axton looked back at her before pointing at her and grinning back at Roland. “Oh, she came to help us find you. You two friends?”

 

Roland shook his head. “Something like that. Look, we’ll talk about this later. For now, let’s just see about getting out of here--” 

 

Roland gasped when a band of blue energy wrapped itself around his ankles and pulled him back, making him fall forward as he clung to the bars of the cell doors.

“Rrr, Vault hunters! You gotta stop this thing!”

 

The girl’s eyes widened and she ran up. She reached through the bars and gripped Roland’s wrists as tight as she could until the constructor’s beams latched onto his arms as well, yanking them away roughly and causing her to be pulled forward as well, smacking her masked face off the bars of the cell.

 

“Shit, get back,” Axton shouted, grabbing her arm and yanking her back to shield her from the black of the EXPloader than ran into the room, and blew the cell door open.

 

The girl squirmed out from under him, pulling her SMG from her digistruct and ran into the hail storm of bullets and exploding robots. Luckily the others had the same idea and ran after her, giving her updates from their ECHOs since she didn’t have one of her own.

 

Together, it didn’t take long for them to fight their way through the ramparts and to the Hyperion drop barge that had come to take Roland away. The three vault hunters fought valiantly, and the girl even took out a couple gunloader’s by herself.

 

The battle against the constructo had been tough. The girl quickly ran out of ammo and ran for cover behind a broken down loader bot. Her eyes twitched and she covered her ears to block out the sound of bullets ricocheting off metal. As she was starting to worry about being useless in a firefight, she looked over when she heard Gaige let out a strangled cry as she was thrown back. 

 

The girl looked over the bot to see if anyone would help her, but Axton and Salvador were both too engaged in trying to take out the Constructor. So the girl squeezed her eyes shut before running out into the fray and helping Gaige up.

 

Gaige looked up at the girl and smiled when she was back on her feet. “Thanks kid, good thing we brought you along after all,” she smirked, and ran back into battle, screaming and summoning Deathtrap once more.

 

After what seemed like an eternity, they finally destroyed the constructor. Axton and Gaige were both badly beat up, while Salvador’s shield seemed to hold up against the onslaught. 

 

Roland fell to the ground on his hands and knees when the Constructor’s power died out,  and the girl ran up to him to help him stand and checking to see if he was alright.

 

“Hey kid, you alright?” Roland asked as he stood and dusted himself off once more. The girl huffed and cocked her head to the side, making Roland grin and shake his head. “Right, I’m okay. You really did a number on those loaders though.”

 

The girl only shrugged. She mostly got lucky, considering most of her shots taken when she still had ammo was when she had her eyes squeezed shut. 

 

Rolland patted her back. “When we get back to Sanctuary, I can show you how to hold that thing properly. You’ll aim better that way. Right now we’ve got work to do.” Roland turned away to address the vault hunters, but the girl scuttled her way around him and joined them as well.

 

“Wait, you don’t actually want to be a vault hunter, do you kid?” Roland asked and the girl nodded quickly. 

 

Axton grinned and patted her on the back as well. “Hey don’t worry, we’ll be there to protect her!”

 

Roland brought a hand up to his face to rub his eyes. “That’s what I’m worried about,” he grumbled under his breath before lifting his head again. “Alright, I suppose you’ve proved you can hold your own. Just… stay safe alright?”

 

The girl nodded again. She reached out to squeeze Roland’s wrist reassuringly, before stepping back again.

 

“I’ll meet you all back in Sanctuary, and, stay safe alright?”

 

The entire group nodded and watched as Roland made his way towards the fast travel. They still had to collect some of the loot that had fallen, so they stayed behind to gather what had dropped.

 

“You alright there Gaige? We saw you take a tumble,” Axton grinned, while bending down to pick up a shotgun to inspect it. 

 

Gaige only huffed and planted her boot straight into Axton’s butt, knocking him forward. “Yeah! No thanks to you guys! If it weren’t for the kid I might have gotten killed!”

 

“I had an eye on you,” Axton whined and stood up, rubbing his sore behind. “I wouldn’t let you die Gaige, relax.”

 

“That’s just your hero complex. You said you’d keep this girl safe too, did you even notice she was out of ammo?” Gaige asked, pointing to the psycho in question, who continued on gathering the white guns for them like she couldn’t even hear them.

 

Axton’s face fell a bit and he looked away, feeling slightly ashamed. “I… may have forgotten she was with us.”

 

Gaige shook her head. “Well now that she’s going to be with us, we’ll have to remember. Maybe she can join Maya’s team?”

 

Salvador snorted. “Oh yeah, I’m sure she’d just love having to deal with two psychos.” He shook his head. “I’m not going to push my luck. If she asks, I didn’t agree with this at all.”

 

The three vault hunters continued to argue on their way to the fast travel station, with the young psycho waddling behind them with her backpack stuffed with the guns they didn’t pick up. She thought perhaps she could sell them and earn some extra money and treat these vault hunters to a drink. Maybe they’d like her more and not forget about her next time.

 

In a shift of blue light they were suddenly back in Sanctuary, and the girl ran off ahead of them to go see Marcus.

 

“Hey wait,” Axton shouted, but she was already out of view. “Shoot,  you think she’d mad at us?”

 

Gaige folded her arms. “Wouldn’t you if someone forgot you and left you to fend for yourself?” She shook her head. “Forget it. Come on boys, I want to get paid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey if you liked this chapter, leave a comment.  
> And if you didn't like this chapter, leave a comment and tell me what you didn't like about it. :)  
> I love to know what you guys think, but I can't read minds, so let me know!


	5. Tundra Express

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh snap, I hear the train a'comin!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to Wilwarindi for helping me get through writers block and editing.   
> Psst if you like Mordecai/Brick you should totally check out her fic Caught on Fire. Just saying, it's really good. 
> 
> Also thank you all so much for commenting, it really lit a fire under my ass when I was ready to just give up on this. <3 Much appreciated!

The girl was just coming back to her apartment from running another errand for the vault hunters. She was getting bored and restless in Sanctuary. She wanted to go on missions with the vault hunters she met, but they would either leave her behind or distract her with some trivial side mission they didn’t want to do.

 

Honestly, she probably wouldn’t have thought much about it if Gaige hadn’t told her about it. 

 

“You’re still young, and you don’t really know how to shoot that thing,” she had told her while they sat at Moxxi’s bar together. “And I don’t want to see you get hurt. We still cool though?”

 

The girl had sighed and nodded. If either of the other two had told her this, she would have been more upset and angry, but she couldn’t get mad at Gaige.

 

Still, she had just finished delivering pizzas to the Bloodshot Stronghold. She managed to make it out in one piece, but of course she had ran out of ammo again and had to make a swift break for it, so she was exhausted to say the least. 

 

Not wanting to climb all the stairs to her apartment, she hauled herself up to sit on the top of a dumpster for a bit of a rest.

 

“ _ Hey kid, can you hear me? _ ” Lilith’s voice came over the ECHO that Roland had finally given her. It was staticy and had a tendency to cut out whenever she got too far away from whomever was trying to contact to her, but it worked well enough for the errands she was made to run.

 

She only grunted and Lilith kept speaking. “ _ The other team of vault hunters just got back into Sanctuary. Why don’t you go introduce yourself? _ ”

 

The girl rolled her eyes and a long strangled noise tore through her throat, her attempt at a groan as she pushed herself off the dumpster and trudged back to Sanctuary’s gate. Her head hung and lolling from side to side as she walked, having no interest in meeting another group of people that wanted nothing to do with her.

 

Still she made her way to the gate and the first person she ran into was Maya. Another siren, the girl had to resist the urge to clutch her own shoulder, at the matching, yet incomplete set of almost identical markings that traced over her own shoulder and bicep before coming to an end, where Maya’s continued down the length of her body.

 

Maya smiled at her and offered her hand. “Hello, you must be the girl Lilith said would greet us. My name is Maya.”

 

The girl carefully took her hand, shaking it before lowering her head in a casual bow and letting go of her hand. 

 

Zero and Krieg came up behind her, with Krieg limping slightly and Zero holding onto a loader bot’s power core. As they approached, Maya and the girl could hear the core talking to them, before Krieg pushed Zero, who had been supporting him while he limped, roughly away.

 

“DON’T TRUST THE SHINY CIRCLE! IT ONLY TELLS PAINFUL LIES,” Krieg shouted. 

 

The girl’s head snapped toward Krieg and Maya looked over her shoulder to him and then back at the girl. 

 

Before she could ask anything the girl bolted around her, taking off on a full sprint toward Krieg who stopped hitting himself in the head when he heard footsteps approaching. His own uncovered eye widened and he took off in his own sprint toward the girl.

 

Maya watched, unsure what was going on, but she started running after them when she heard Krieg screaming at the girl, mistaking it for rage. She stumbled to a halt though when she noticed Krieg open up his arms and the young girl jump right into them, hugging his neck as he spun them around.

 

“THE CANARY LIVES,” he wailed, slowing his spinning to a stop but still hugging the girl tight. The girl nuzzled into his neck, trying to blink away tears that were forming in her eyes as her fingers clutched at the back of Krieg’s head.

 

Zero came up and flashed a question mark across their mask before speaking. “Do you two happen / to know each other or is / it coincidence?” 

 

Krieg opened his eye to look at Zero and Maya, loosening his grip on the girl, but instead of dropping to the ground, she climbed the rest of the way up onto Krieg’s shoulders, leaning down to continue hugging his head.

 

“CANARY AND I FLEW FROM THE SAME CAGE WHEN SOMEONE BROKE THE DOOR OPEN! SHE FELL FROM MY HAND BUT SHE’S ALIVE AND WELL!”

 

Maya smiled up at the girl when she finally let go of Krieg enough to look down at the siren again. “This is cute, but how do you two know each other exactly?”

 

The girl’s eyes widened and she seemed to stiffen. Krieg could feel her legs tense on his shoulders and he reached up to hold her hand before stepping closer to Maya, and for a rare moment, he lowered his voice and just growled, “Hell.”

 

Maya didn’t flinch or back away, but she took the time to look them both over, realising their masks were very similar and nodded. Whatever monstrous experimentation Hyperion put Krieg through, it wasn’t limited to adults. 

 

She nodded and looked up at the girl who had shaken off whatever memories she was thinking of and relaxed again. Smiling, Maya reached over to take Kriegs hand and gently lead him along. “Well, I’m glad you two could be reunited in a better environment. But we have work to do. Are you ready for a mission child?”

 

The girl perked up and nodded. Were they really asking her to join them on a mission. A real mission? She slid down Krieg’s arm and hopped up, standing at attention in front of Maya, making the siren giggle.

 

“Good, apparently we have to head out to the Tundra Express and wake up Roland’s spy. Do you have a fire weapon?”

 

The girl looked down and started flipping through her inventory on her digistruct. Seemed like the only elemental she had was the corrosive machine gun Moxxi gave her. 

 

She shook her head and Maya hummed, but shrugged. “Alright, we’ll have to think of a plan when we get there.” They started heading toward the fast travel, already planning their course of action. “Krieg, maybe you can light the varkids? You seem to really like fire.”

 

“BURNS LIKE A MOTHER’S HUG!”

 

“Exactly,” Maya smiled, and the girl wondered if Maya could actually understand him or if she was just humouring him.

 

The four of them fast travelled to Tundra Express, Maya and the girl shivering at the cold air blowing at their faces while Krieg and Zero seemed fine, even despite Krieg walking around shirtless. 

 

Roland’s voice came over their ECHO, making the girl smack the side of her head, trying to make her earpiece pick up more than just static.

 

“ _ You’ll have to signal our man - I’d bet anything he’s sleeping off a hangover, so you’ll have to wake him up. The sound of some varkids burning alive at the same time oughtta do it. _ ”

 

The girl furrowed her brows, thinking that seemed unnecessary and cruel. That was until she actually laid eyes on a varkid.

 

The three vault hunters ran off in separate directions to different varkid nests. Maya was attempting to phase lock the varkids from her nest, but the weight of it would crush the varkids before she could set any of them on fire. 

 

Zero was too quick and efficient, shooting each varkid in the head so they died before they could squeal at being burned, while Krieg was having fun just slashing varkids up with his buzzaxe.

 

It was only a moment of being left on her own before there was a squealing behind the girl, and she whipped around to see a group of varkids come scurrying up behind her. 

 

She panicked and took off running in the opposite direction, taking out Moxxi’s bad touch and attempting to shoot behind her while running. Most of her shots missed and she was running out of ammo quickly. She tripped over a rock and fell hard with her hand infront of her to break her fall. She quickly rolled onto her back, eyes wide as she saw five varkids quickly descending on her. 

 

She quickly looked around and saw the firemelon just a couple feet in front of the scuttling bugs. Snatching up her machine gun, she aimed, took a deep breath in, and used her last few bullets to fire at the plant, making it explode in a burst of corrosion and flame, setting the group of varkids aflame.

 

The screamed at an unholy volume, making the girl drop her gun and cover her ears. She squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to watch as she was eaten alive by bugs, but the crack of rifle shots and the quieting of the varkids screaming made her open her eyes just in time to see the last varkid explode in a mess of purple sludge.

 

The static in her ECHO started to clear and she could hear a yawn cut through the snow.

 

“ _ Hey, vault hunters - Welcome to the Crimson Raiders. Sorry you had to wake me up - I mighta celebrated a little too hard last night after Bloodwing and I raided a Hyperion convoy, _ ” he chuckled. 

 

Mordecai? 

 

The girl looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of where his voice was coming from but found nothing. Mordecai continued after Bloodwing shrieked into his ECHO.

 

“ _ Heh, easy girl. So, a Hyperion train is speedin’ through the Tundra Express. If my intel’s good, and it usually is, the vault key itself might be onboard. My advice? Do what I’d do - Steal the key. Get drunk. Pass out. _ ”

 

“ _ Without the vault key, Jack can’t control the Warrior - you’ve gotta hijack that train, soldier _ ,” Roland explained when he came back over the line. “ _ My old friend Tina can help; go talk to her _ .”

 

A new wave point pinged on their ECHOs and the vault hunters met back up to go head out to find Tina. The girl scurrying up to follow them, holding onto Krieg’s hand so she could look up at the tower over them, trying to see if Mordecai was up there. It would only make sense for a sniper to be on the highest point in an area, right?

 

The girl snapped out of her thoughts when Roland started speaking again, explaining that Tina was a bomb maker and a friend of his. She didn’t really care, but then she didn’t expect Tina to also be a kid when they got there.

 

They ran inside the cave, just barely avoiding the bullets whizzing by their head, only to witness this thirteen year old blow up a random psycho with dynamite.

 

“Oh hiiiiii,” Tina called when she turned around and noticed them. Hesitantly they approached, and the girl took note of the psycho mask Tina wore on the side of her head, wondering if it was hers or a trophy. 

 

“Wait, how old are you?” Maya asked, holding her hands up and shaking her head in disbelief. 

 

Tina only smiled. “I am thirteen and eighteen sixty fourths.”

 

Maya’s brow furrowed. “And you’re a demolitions expert?”

 

“Best this side of Pandora suckah!”

 

Maya opened her mouth to question it further, but Tina cut her off.

 

“So you gotta hijack a train huh? Child’s play!” Tina waved her hand, motioning for them to follow her to her garage. “C’mon, lemme introduce ya to my ladies.” She turned and ran into her workshop, stopping in front of two large plush rabbits. “This is Mushy Snugglebites and Felicia Sexopants. These fine-ass women coulds stops that trains for yas, But I’mma need their badonkadonks first. But they got stoled by the bandits a few days ago.”

 

The vault hunters gave each other a confused look before Tina shouted, “GO GET ‘EM,” startling them into turning and scittering out of the cave.

 

They made their way to the bandit camp Tina’s map ECHO map led them to. While the vault hunters were looking up at the sign, they didn’t notice the girl sneaking her way around the fence until Maya looked down and saw her crawling under a gap in the wall.

 

Maya jolted and opened her mouth to yell for her to come back, but Zero placed his hand over her mouth to silence her. “The girl is alright. / Look as she moves with all ease, / amongst the bandits.”

 

Maya mumbled against his hand before watching the girl easily sneak behind the nomads thinking she was one of their own, grabbing one of the missiles off a work table and silently sliding it under the hole she climbed in through.

 

Going back, the girl climbed up some scaffolding holding up a set of stairs, climbing her way over to the second workbench that was guarded by a goliath. Clinging to the scaffolding with her legs, she slowly reached her arms down and picked up the second missile without the goliath even noticing, and crawled back to the hole in the fence, shoving it through before sliding in herself, meeting up with the others who had moved around to pick up the badonkadonks.

 

Maya grabbed the girl’s hands and they all took off running away before the buzzards could notice them. When they were almost to Tina’s shop again, Maya yelled, “Are you kidding me? What was that?”

 

The girl shrugged and shrunk away, unsure if Maya was really mad at her.

 

“That was amazing, / A true display of stealth, this / girl is a ninja.” Zero haikued, flashing a smiley face on his mask.

 

“It was impressive,” Maya sighed, “But please don’t go off on your own like that again.”

 

The girl tilted her head and gave her a look, brows furrowed, wishing she could express the irony in Maya’s request, but only nodded. No point in starting an argument now, not when there was a train to blow up.

 

____________________________________________________________________________

  
  


They made their way, car by car through the train wreckage, searching for this damnable vault key, and coming up with nothing. 

 

Gunloaders were sent down to try and stop them, but luckily the girl’s and Maya’s collective corrosive weapons made short work of the bots. 

 

Finally they made it off the ice shelf to the last few cars. Maya held her arm in front of the other three and motioned for them to approach cautiously. 

 

The girl’s ECHO couldn’t hear it, but over the other three they could hear Angel’s voice coming over the line once more. “ _ Don’t worry - if Jack really wanted to protect the vault key, it wouldn’t be on a train. He’d have Wilhelm guarding it. _ ”

 

Maya wasn’t convinced though, so they slowly approached the mangled wreckage. Maya reached out, about to pry open the door to the car before them when it started to rise up out of the ice. 

 

They ducked just in time for the train car to go whizzing over their heads, and there stood Wilhelm, aiming his shoulder cannon right at them, making the four leap out of the way of a hailstorm of bullets.

 

“ _ It’s a trap - Abort the mission, soldier!” Roland could be heard shouting over their ECHOs. “I’m sorry, but you can’t handle Wilhelm, trust me! _ ”

 

The three vault hunters ran into the fray anyhow, returning each of Wilhelm’s bullets with three of their own. The girl stood to her feet and pulled out her own gun, reloading and going to run into the battle before Lilith’s voice cut into her line as well.

 

“ _ Kid, Wilhelm nearly killed us all in New Haven without taking a scratch - if things get bad, just run! _ ”

 

“ _ Roland is wrong, Vault Hunters - you can defeat Wilhelm, I promise you! _ ” Angel retorted.

 

She hesitated, and in that moment Wilhelm had picked up one of the train cars, as if it were feather light and whipped it towards her. She just managed to jump out of the way again, but watched in petrified horror as the train car imbedded itself into the solid rock of the cliff behind her.

 

“Krieg! Get the girl and fast travel her back to Sanctuary!” Maya cried out, and Krieg stopped slashing at Wilhelm’s legs with his buzzaxe and ran off to pick the girl up, just barely avoiding being blasted himself with a grenade.

 

The girl looked around when she was scooped up and started to struggle against his grip and he ran her back to the fast travel station. A cry tore itself through her throat, unable to escape as loud as she wanted through the solid muzzle holding her jaw shut.

 

“SAFETY FIRST!” Krieg shouted as he shoved her back onto the pad and punched the fast travel station before stepping back and running back into the battle.

 

The girl reached out for him but it was too late, he disappeared behind the haze of blue light as the girl materialised back in Sanctuary.

 

Before her stood Roland and Lilith, but she didn’t care. She quickly whipped around and tried to remember what the code was for the last place she was. Punching in numbers and continually coming up with “Access Denied.”

 

Roland reached over and pulled the girl away from the station and hugged her tight against his chest to keep her from flailing. She still kicked her legs around, so Roland kneeled, making the girl’s legs bend against the ground as well, so she settled on screaming in her chest.

 

“Hey, it’ll be alright kid,” Lilith kneeled in front of her and gently pushed the girl’s dark hair out of her face. “You’re friends are probably right behind you.”

 

The girl whipped her head side to side and screeched again, tears finally spilling from her eyes. Here she finally was reunited with the man that saved her from that Hyperion hell hole, and he may have just lost him, and her new friends to a massive cyborg.

 

Lilith sighed and waved her hand for Roland to follow her. “C’mon, she’ll calm down eventually, we have to go check on the others and make sure they’re okay.”

 

This drew the girl’s attention and she at least stopped thrashing around in Roland’s grip. He continued to hold onto her though and carry her up to the Raider’s HQ. 

 

As soon as they got to the control room, a ping on their map showed that there were only three people still alive at the train wreckage. 

 

“Guys, talk to me,” Lilith ordered over the ECHO. They waited for a few moments, holding their breath until their ECHOs crackled to life, and they heard Maya.

 

“We’re all good. A little scraped up, but alive. We’re on our way back.”

 

They all sighed and the girl smiled with her eyes, tears of joy rolling down her cheeks now. She looked up at Roland apologetically and he let her go, letting her stand on her own again. She gave Roland a small nod before she turned to run off to the fast travel station.

 

She ran up just as the three vault hunters returned on the platform. She ran up and hugged Krieg immediately, who hugged her back tightly.

 

Maya tried to straighten out her hair that was mildly singed. “Sorry for sending you back like that kid. We kind of failed you on the varkid thing, I didn’t want to see you get hurt again.”

 

The girl let go of Krieg, looked up at Maya and then reached out to hug her too. Maya held her arms up, unsure what to do but settled on slowly lowering one arm to pat the girl on the back.

 

The girl moved to hug Zero tightly too, earning a grunt from him, but a heart flashed across his mask. She was just happy to see them all safe. 

 

They all headed back to the HQ to see what their next mission would be.


	6. The Good, The Bad, and the Mordecai

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally bringing Mordecai back into the story since this was supposed to be about him as much as the little psycho. My apologies, but there will be more about his from now on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No beta this time, I'm just posting it as is. Hope it's alright though.

It had been a month since Mordecai brought the girl into Sanctuary. He had kept in touch with Roland, checking up on her at the end of each week.

He was a bit shocked when he had found out she'd taken to doing bounties from the board in Sanctuary, and even more so when he woke up one day and watched her walk in with the group of vault hunters Roland told him to expect.

He had wanted to say something, wanted to go down and check her for injuries, make sure she was okay after nearly getting eaten by varkids. However when the large psycho held her hand and led her away, the look he got from her on the other end of his sniper rifle was possibly the dirtiest look one could muster with only their eyes. If looks could kill, Mordecai would have been dead a thousand times over.

He’d do it later, he told himself. They were far too busy right now and on a bit of a time crunch. They had to make sure they caught that train. That still didn't stop Mordecai from seizing up when he watched her wander off to sneak into a bandit camp to grab Tina’s explosives. He had been about to fire a round of bullets into a Goliath, but was surprised when he noticed that the girl’s plan was working. She was walking with ease between the bandits who thought she was one of them, and sneaking behind the nomad’s that would have noticed her.

Mordecai had watched her with a grin. “Smart kid,” he murmured, finally taking fire to cause a distraction when he saw her slide back under the fence and escape the camp.

He tried to tell himself that she was tough, she could handle herself. He didn't want to admit that he was worried. He had held his breath when he heard through their ECHOs that she went with them to fight Wilhelm. However the line cut out just as he heard Maya tell Krieg to get her out. He'd called Roland immediately to make sure she made it back to Sanctuary, but he hadn't answered. When Lilith finally answered him and told him they were all safe and Wilhelm was dead, he was so relieved he'd collapsed to his knees, holding his head in his hands, letting out a nervous laugh. He even offered to buy them all beers for the bad intel. He was also tempted to tell Moxxi to lock the kid up after that, but he resisted.

Mordecai knew he'd have to go for a visit when he had some free time, but right now they had a war to fight, and he’d just put a whole team and a child in danger. He knew he had to step up his game now.

No more mistakes.

____________________________________________________________________________

The girl stood in front of the bounty board with her arms folded. The vault hunters were taking a break after fighting Wilhelm, but she was still restless. Scanning over the board she was looking for something she could do on her own that would prove she wasn't just dead weight to the Raiders.

There wasn't much on the board though, and she sighed before something caught her eye. It was a notice with Mordecai’s name on it. She picked up the recorder and pressed play, hearing Mordecai’s voice crackle to life on the recorder.

“A few years back, I won two prizes in Moxxi’s Underdome: A chest full a’loot, and Moxxi herself,”

The girl lowered the recorder and wondered if that was why Moxxi and Mordecai were so bitter to each other. She shook her head when Mordecai’s voice continued bitterly.

“I lost the second prize to Jack, and the first to a thief named Carson. I don’t care if I never see those guns again, but if you want ‘em, just find Carson in The Dust.”

Despite her being upset with Mordecai for abandoning her, she did have to admit being in Sanctuary was much nicer than sweating out in The Dust. At least there was a steady supply of water out here and she could wash the grime off her.

As much as she hated it right now, she did owe him. The least she could do is track down these guns for him. She didn’t have much else to do anyway. So she went to the fast travel station and headed off back to The Dust.

She appeared in Ellie’s garage, and after visiting and having a one sided conversation with her, she went around the side to speak to one of her old bandit friends she made while she was out here, Loggins.

“Hey wingman! Boy, are you getting taller?” Loggins asked when she walked up the stairs to see him. He had always been kind to her, after he got kicked out of his buzzard squad and she had helped him by stealing volleyballs from the camps whenever she could. She never burned the place down, but Loggins was fine with little sabotages here and there.

She only shrugged at his questions, stepping up really close to him, placing a hand on her head and moving it to bump against his chest to check her height before shaking her head. No, still short as ever. Loggins laughed and ruffled her hair.

She batted his hand away playfully and stepped back, pulling out the ECHO recorder and passing it to him. After listening to the message he nodded and handed it back. “Yeah, Carson should still be up there. If you’re quiet enough you might be able to just sneak in and find him. I know I won’t miss him.”

The girl nodded her head and gave Loggins a thumbs up, thanking him for his help before she hopped off the edge of the garage and started making her way toward the bandit camp.

Rather than go in through the front, she decided to scale up the side of the fencing, carefully bringing her leg up to push down the barb wire with her boot to hop over and falling into the sand below. She looked around, making sure the coast was clear before continuing. 

She noticed some blood that was oozing out from under a piece of sheet metal. Hesitantly she moved it aside and found a man lying dead with a recorder in his hand. She tapped her ECHO, trying to get a signal out to Tundra Express and played the dead man’s recording when Mordecai picked up.

Mordecai wasn’t sure whose frequency this was, but he managed to hear enough of the recording to figure out it was someone who picked up his bounty.

“Gettle’s after the treasure too? Crap,” he grumbled. “He’s a Hyperion goon, more bent than a boomerang. He probably took Carson to the Hyperion Friendship Gulag.”

The girl nodded, setting the recorder back down and turned to leave when Mordecai’s voice came through the line again. 

“Wait, who is this?” No reply. “... Pollito? Pollito is that you?”

The girl frowned and turned off her ECHO, she had work to do and didn’t need Mordecai chirping in her ear while she was tracking. He could say all he wanted when she found those guns.

____________________________________________________________________________

The girl made it to the Friendship Gulag easy enough, but she wasn’t expecting there to be so many Loader bots around. She wasn’t sure if she’d be able to fight her way through, so she opted for stealth once again.

She was surprised that she was able to sneak behind walls and boulders, always keeping an eye on the bots and engineers, staying just out of their line of sight. That was until she tried to pry the bars off of Carson’s cell.

She grabbed onto the bar with both hands, planting her feet up against the others for extra leverage and yanked the loose bar free with a clatter against the cement under her. The whirring of bots heading her way made her jump up. There was no sneaking out of here, now she had to fight. She quickly snagged the ECHO recorder from Carson’s body and shoved it in her bag. 

She had just stepped out of the cell when a WAR Loader shot and her, knocking her back to skid across the ground and depleting her shield in an instant. This was bad, she thought, and struggled to her feet, running behind a wall just in time to avoid another blast from the WAR bot.

She looked down at her shield and mentally cursed. Not only did the bot deplete her shield, but it cracked the actual device, leaving her with nothing to defender herself. She could hear the WAR Loader approaching and she squeezed her eyes shut, forcing herself to remain calm while she looked around for the best escape route. 

It seemed like her best option was to beeline it for the exit. Pulling out her Moxxi gun, she turned on her heel and started sprinting for the teleport exit back to The Dust. Loaders and engineers alike took notice of her and opened fire.

She raised her gun and started firing erratically in front of her, clearing a path for her to run through. However, she forgot about the bots behind her and a searing pain tore through her left shoulder as a Gun Loader’s bullet whipped into the top of it, just grazing her shoulder but still cutting into it. 

She stumbled, dropping her gun to grip onto her shoulder, but she kept running. With a hailstorm of bullets behind her, she managed to just barely escape a round to the back of the head, and she was back out in the sandy wasteland.

She stumbled down the hill to the Catch A Ride station and collapsed to her knees, breathing hard to catch her breath and clutching her bleeding shoulder. She didn’t want to go back to Sanctuary with an injury like this, frankly, Dr. Zed frightened her more than the Hyperion scientists she used to deal with.

She sat back against the machine and pulled out the recorder she took from Carson and switched her ECHO back on just in time to hear Mordecai screaming that if she wasn’t already dead, he’d kill her.

She only grunted and Mordecai went silent, listening to heavy breathing on her end. “Pollito? You’re breathing, so you’re alive, but are you okay?” Mordecai asked, trying and failing to hide the concern in her voice. 

The girl only grunted, trying to make an affirmative noise. Mordecai must have accepted it because he sighed. “Good. Don’t just ignore me like that again! You had me scared to death!”

The girl rolled her eyes and huffed, and Mordecai flinched. “Yeah, I know, I’m in no position to talk, am I?” he sighed and shook his head. “You shouldn’t be out looking for those guns though. It’s dangerous.”

The girl grunted again, reminded of the recorder and she raised it up to play Carson’s final words for Mordecai, flinching away when the gunshots played.

“Carson’s dead?” Mordecai couldn’t help but chuckle. “No surprises there. I’ve heard of that Mobley guy though. Small time bandit. Dangerous.” Mordecai chewed on his lower lip before whispering, “I can’t convince you to stop looking, can I?”

The girl hesitated, looking at her shoulder, before shaking her head and grunting twice in denial.

Mordecai sighed again. “Alright, just… watch yourself, alright? And keep your ECHO on! Remind me to get you a newer one too. One with a better signal.”

The girl nodded before ending the call and standing up again. Maybe she could stop at Ellie’s for some first aid on her way to the flats.

____________________________________________________________________________

After purchasing and using a med hypo from Ellie’s garage, the girl had found her old shovel propped up in the corner of the workshop. Picking it up she brought it out to Ellie.

“Yeah, thought maybe you’d come back lookin’ for it,” Ellie shrugged. “Just in case ya know?”

The girl smiled with her eyes and came up to give Ellie a hug. Ellie scooped the girl up into her arms and gave her a bit bear hug. “That’s my little psycho. Alright, you come back any time you need patching up again.” Ellie set her back down on her feet and the girl saluted her with two fingers before picking up her shovel and taking off behind the garage again.

The girl had been expecting bandits along the way, but for the most part ran into nothing but spiderants, which she took out quickly with a grin. No matter how long she lived away from here, she still enjoyed a good fight with a spiderant.

It didn’t take her much longer to find the church and graveyard she had been looking for. Taking her shovel she started digging up the graves. 

It took her about an half an hour of grave digging before she finally struck something solid and it wasn’t a skull this time. She kneeled down to brush the sand away and chuckled when she revealed the chest.

Her joy was short lived however when Mobley came sauntering out of the church toward her.

“Finally! I’ve been waiting in that church for hours for someone to dig it up in case it was booby trapped! Now hand it over kid!”

“Get away from the stash bandits!” Gettle shouted as he popped out from behind a boulder. 

The girl’s shoulders tensed and she raised her hands, slowly standing and taking a step back.

“Damnit kid,” Mobley growled. “You led that Hyperion jackass here?”

The girl’s eyes widened and she shook her head frantically.

“You bandits put down your guns and move back from the stash now!” Gettle ordered.

The girl shook her head again and kneeled down, leaning over the chest and throwing her arms across it. This wasn’t theirs, this was Mordecai’s treasure, and she refused to just let them take it from her.

“I got a better idea jackass,” Mobley called, placing his hands on his hips. “We all draw when the church bell rings for the third time!”

“A Truxican standoff? Fine!”

Again the girl shook her head. No guns were worth this! She stood slowly, reaching behind her where she kept her machine gun, only to now remember she had dropped it back in the Friendship Gulag.

The church bell started ringing and her eyes widened. She was in a standoff with no weapon.

The bell run for the third time, and Mobley shouted to draw. The two men drew their weapons and started firing at each other while the girl ducked behind a gravestone, ducking her head and covering her ears with her hands.

After a few minutes things went quiet. The girl lifted her head and all she could hear was the scuffle of a single pair of feet limping through the sand. She stretched up and looked over the top of the gravestone to see Gettle making his way over to the chest. She glared and got up, sneaking over and behind Gettle, picking up her shovel on the way and swiftly brought the metal edge down onto the back of Gettle’s skull, knocking him out cold.

The girl huffed and looked around for anyone else that could pop out and surprise her, when she saw nobody cracked opened the chest and was startled when guns and money suddenly burst out of it, making her fall back into the sand.

A gentle breeze came by and started scattering the bills across the ground, making her skitter up and chase after them. After a good twenty minutes of chasing down all the cash, she finally stopped to look at the guns.

She quickly put most of them away until she picked up the sniper rifle. It was heavier than she had expected. She looked it over before bringing it up to her face to look through the scope. She checked it for ammo and there were still two shots in it. 

She brought it back to her face again, aiming for a boulder a hundred feet away. It looked so close with the scope, she figured he could hit it easily. When she pulled the trigger however, the recoil knocked the butt of the rifle hard into her forehead, leaving a splitting gash in her eyebrow and making her drop the rifle and fall back into the dirt again, clutching her face.

When the pain dulled into a soft throbbing she sat up again, wiping the blood from her eye with the back of her hand and got up, picking the rifle up and slinging it onto her back. Mordecai’s voice had come over her ECHO telling her to make better use of the guns than he did. Forget that, she was going to return this hell rifle to Mordecai. Maybe that’s why he got rid of it, the recoil was ridiculous.

____________________________________________________________________________

Mordecai was lounging back on his cot, holding Bloodwing on his forearm and gently petting her beak when he heard a ping on his ECHO, indicating one of the vault hunters was nearby. He got up with a grunt and looked through his rifle scope toward the fast travel station.

He watched his girl stumble forward, blood still oozing down the side of her face with his old rifle hanging on her back. He was torn between smiling and concern, he decided on the latter. 

“Hey kid, you alright?” Mordecai asked. “Looks like you got a nasty bump on your head there.”

Mordecai watched the girl raise her hand above her head, and at first he thought she was flipping him off, but when he looked closer he realised she had her thumb and first finger making an O and holding up her last three fingers, signalling she was okay.

Mordecai finally smiled and set his rifle down. “Head to Tina’s workshop. I'll come down and fix ya up.” With that Mordecai’s line cut out and he gathered a first aid kit and headed down the many stairs to Tina’s shop.

When he got down there, the girl was already there having a diplomatic conversation with the girl, who seemed amused that Tina knew she couldn't speak so was doing responses for her instead.

“Hmm, you need a name though. I think I shall name you Lady Frogget the Fourth!”

The girl gave her a blank look before nodding, accept this new name and trying to remember it incase she was ever referred to as such in the future.

“Alright Tina, much as I hate to interrupt your discussion about etiquette, you’re friend needs patching up,” Mordecai said with a grin.

Tina turned to him and grinned wide. “Hey Mordy, where’d you find this one? She’s so articulate with her conversation.”

Mordecai rolled his eyes and sat down at Tina’s table with the girl, pulling off his gloves and wetting a rag to wipe the dried blood off her face. “Found her at Ellie’s. Thought I'd give her an opportunity to get back at Hyperion.”

“Really?” Tina asked, standing off to the side and swinging her arms. “Here I thought you were starting a little girl collection!”

Mordecai cringe. “Don’t be weird. You forget Roland wanted to keep you, he just wouldn't admit it until Brick gave him the puppy eyes.” Mordecai paused to tip the girls head back, flushing out the gash on her eyebrow before patting it dry. “Looks like you won’t need stitches, that’s good.”

“How’d you manage that anyway? Did a varkid get you again?” Tina teased, making the girl growl quietly, before she pointed at the rifle on her back.

“You tried to fire a rifle?” Mordecai asked and chuckled. “No wonder you cracked your eyes, you’re probably holding it wrong. You don't even hold your SMG right half the time. I'm surprised you haven't burned your hand on it yet.”

The girl glared at him while he finished folding a piece of gauze and tape it over the cut in her forehead. Mordecai noticed and held his hands up when he was done.

“I'm not making fun of you. Nobody showed you how to shoot, did they? It’s impressive that you’ve hit anything.”

The girl still glared, but her shoulders relaxed and some of the spite left her eyes. She stood and pulled the rifle off her back and shoved it into Mordecai’s chest, making him grab it. She pointed at him, then to the gun, then to herself.

She had to repeat these motions a few times before it finally clicked in Mordecai’s head. “You want me to teach you?”

The girl’s eyes finally softened and she nodded. She’d remembered the stories Roland had told her of Mordecai winning the Underdome. Even Moxxi had shown her photos of him battling and during his win. If anyone should be teaching her how to shoot, it should be the sharpest sharp shooter this side of the six galaxies.

Mordecai opened his mouth to deny her, but the girl stepped forward, a hand on the rifle and she looked up at him with adoration. It was weird, and he cringed a moment, turning his head away but ultimately he sighed and hung his head. 

“Alright, I’ll teach you a thing or two, but let’s start small.” Mordecai looked at Bloodwing, who had moved to sitting on his shoulder and nodded back with his head. “Go get my revolver, would ya girl?” Bloodwing spread her wings and shrieked before taking off, heading up to the top of the tower and coming back to him with an old scuffed up revolver, letting him take it before she nestled back onto his shoulder.

Mordecai handed it to the girl. “This was one of my favourite pistols when I was vault hunting with the old crew. It’s a Tediore static revolver. Melted a lot of guys faces with the voltage on this thing, so don’t be reckless with it.”

He took her out of the workshop and showed her the basics of reloading, aiming and firing. “If you learn to aim with this thing, anything else will be a breeze to pick up.”

The girl fired off a round and managed to his four out of six varkids. Mordcai patted her shoulder. “Not bad. You’ll pick this up quick.” Mordecai pulled his hand away and stepped back. “Come back next week, and I’ll teach you some more stuff alright?”

The girl nodded, a bit of a smile showing in her eyes.

“Hey, when do I get a gun from you?” Tina interrupted and Mordecai snorted.

“When you can go a month without starting a fire in your shop.”

“Aww, you know I can’t manage that,” Tina huffed, but quickly forgot their conversation and skipped back into her workshop.

Mordecai walked with his girl back to the fast travel station and sent her off, sighing softly as she disappeared and hope she stayed safe from now on.


	7. Rising Action

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you can't trust some random AI to help you out along the way, who can you trust?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, life definitely got in the way. I'm so sorry it's been a while since I updated. I got a second job after I last updated and only had a few hours at home to sleep between the two, and running errands on weekend. But I finally found the time to sit down and get this done! I hope it's alright. 
> 
> More drama and Mordecai next chapter, it'll be worth the wait, I promise!

Back in Sanctuary, the vault hunters took a day to rest after fighting Wilhelm, not paying any mind to the power core they brought back as they licked their wounds. When they finally woke up the next day, the vault hunters went to go deliver it to Lt. Davis. The girl stayed in her apartment, carefully cleaning the revolver Mordecai had given her and trying to make it look like new again, with some success. There were still a few scuffs she wouldn’t be able to polish out of it, but she felt it gave it character. This was a gun with stories to it.

 

She stopped and lowered the gun to her lap and looked around her small apartment. It wasn't much; a bed, a small table that she was sitting on the floor working at. To anyone else it would probably be a hovel, but to her it was home, and she was happy.

 

A bright flash of light attracted her attention to the window and she heard the explosions that shook the ground of Sanctuary. She holstered her revolver at her hip and jumped up, rushing outside to see what was happening and tripping from the rumble of a blast at the edge of town. 

 

She picked herself up again and was shoved down again when one of the others that lived in the building with her ran passed her, the entire building evacuating in time for the apartment building to crumble from the force of the shaking ground.

She stood up again and looked around, seeing the approaching mortars hit the edge of town. She turned her head when she heard a man, one of Roland’s Crimson Raider soldiers motioning for her to follow him and the rest of the people scurrying underground. She shook her head and took off, running toward the center of the city where the commotion was, turning on her ECHO device on the way.

 

She kept running while listening to Scooter say the shield were down, Lilith mentioning her terrible idea to get the city in the air and the girl rushed her way to Scooter’s garage to see if she could help. She could hear him shout over the ECHO to meet him in the center of town.

 

She turned to rush back but stopped dead in her tracks and stumbled back when a Raider that had been standing by the stairs was there no longer, and was now currently sprayed upon the girl’s shirt and face. 

 

Her hands shook from the shock of it, slowly lifting them to wipe the blood from her eye which started to twitch. Her mind went blank for a moment as she stared at the puddle on the ground that was once a human being. She was yanked out of hysterics when she heard Roland shouting over her ECHO once more. She shook her head and continued on, rushing through evacuating crowds and dodging explosions to get to the center of town.

 

She stopped beside Scooter who was working on one of the ignition primers and leaned down to touch his shoulder. He looked up for a split second his eyes widening.

 

“Kid! You should be goin’ with the others! Get out of here!” Scooter shouted, but the girl remained, brows furrowed to show him she wasn’t going anywhere.

 

Scooter sighed and shook his head. “We need to cycle the ignition primers! I got the little girl and her robot helping me with the others.” 

 

The girl looked up and sure enough there was Gaige and her death trap working together to get the other primers up and running. 

 

She was just about to turn away and start helping people evacuate when she heard Roland curse over her ECHO, and she turned to see a mortar had struck the HQ, knocking in a piece of the roof. A cold shiver ran down her spine, fearing the worst. She felt a bit relieved when she heard Roland’s voice again, saying he was pinned. At least he was alive. She ran to the HQ and frantically looked around before rushing up the stairs to find him, his legs trapped under the concrete rubble of the caved in ceiling.

 

Roland looked up when she rushed in and he let a shocked look cross his face. “Kid! Are you alright, you’re covered in blood!”

 

The girl just nodded sadly before kneeling down and starting to dig at the rubble around his legs.

 

Roland struggled some more and shook his head. “Forget about me, we need to get this eridium to Lilith! Where are the vault hunters?”

 

Before the girl had time to growl at him, Axton and Maya came in through the door behind them. “We’re here Roland, where’s the eridium?” Axton asked.

 

The girl got up, quickly snatching up the pieces of eridium and shoved them into Axton’s arms, before the two vault hunters turned and rushed back to Lilith.

 

The girl turned back and continued trying to dig Roland out from the rubble, all the while he shouted for her to leave him.

 

“You need to get underground kid! Forget about me, I’ll be fine just--”

 

A hard slap came down across Roland’s mouth. His eyes widened at the sudden sting on his face. He wouldn’t have even believed what happened if it hadn’t been for the girl with her open hand still poised to smack him again, her eyes glaring daggers at him, daring him to tell her to leave again.

 

Roland slowly closed his mouth and instead worked with her to try and free his legs from the concrete. 

 

They just got his legs free when city started to raise from the ground and Lilith phased the city. The girl jerked forward and fell into Roland’s arms, gripping his shirt tight at the sudden shift.

 

She felt dizzy when they finally stopped, slowly pulling away from Roland and holding her head and groaning quietly. Roland reached out and pushed the hair out of the girls eyes. “You okay kid?” He asked and she slowly nodded, pushing herself up and helping Roland up as well. He limped a little, but nothing felt broken.

 

The girl slowly made her way through the blood and rubble on the streets, making her way to the crumbling edge of the town that remained, staring out over the horizon of the ground below. She lifted her hands and looked at the blood on them, and only now did she feel sick at the sight of it. She squeezed her eyes shut, slowly dropping to her knees and clutching her head. It had only been a few years since she's seen this much carnage around her, but it was bringing back memories or lab coats and cages.

 

A heavy hand came down on her shoulder, snapping her out of her stupor. She looked up to see Roland standing behind her, his face unsure, but his words were slow and quiet. “It’s alright kid, we’re safe now. We’ll fix this.”

 

The first bit of reassurance she had gotten since escaping from Hyperion. Tears started to prick at the corners of her eyes and she stood, Roland seeming more unsure, wondering how what he said could upset her until she turned and hugged his waist tight. He stumbled back but still patted her head, a small smile on his lips.

 

“First Tina and now this one? Roland you can’t keep collecting strays,” Lilith jeered as she stumbled over to meet them, the girl coming to catch her when Lilith staggered and tripped over her foot. “Thanks kid.”

 

“Blame Mordecai for this one,” Roland huffed, but the girl hunched into herself a little, unsure what to make of his comment.

 

“Hey, you look like hell kid, come on, let's get you cleaned up,” Lilith grinned and took the girl’s hand, leading her into town and over to the girl's apartment, that was now a pile of rubble. “Oh. Uhh, nevermind.”

 

The girl looked up at her and Lilith rubbed her tired eyes and sighs. “Hey kid relax, we’re only joking alright?” Lilith asked, smiling reassuringly when the girl tilted her head. Lilith reached down and patted her head. “We’re only messing around, we don’t  _ blame _ anyone for you being here. We’re glad you’re here. Things might have gotten a lot worse if you didn’t get that eridium to the vault hunters.”

 

The girl furrowed her brows and hung her head slightly but nodded. Of course. If it weren’t for the vault hunters, we’d all be dead right now.

 

“I mean I’m glad you’re here,” Lilith corrected herself but the girl only shook her head. Looking up at Lilith and taking her assurance for what it was, she reached out and took her head and squeezed it tight, making Lilith stop before she could ramble anymore. The girl smiled at her with her eyes before letting her hand go, trying to express that it was alright. 

 

The girl started tugging Lilith along back toward the HQ when she finally felt Lilith’s hands trembling. Lilith was pale and looking close to passing out herself, so the girl started to lead her back to where she could get some rest. Plus if there was still running water to be found to clean herself up, it would be there anyway.

 

“Kid, I’m fine, and can still help,” Lilith argued when the girl tried to push her down to a bed, but her protest were quickly silenced when she collapsed onto the smaller girl, making her struggle to hold Lilith up and roll her onto the mattress. 

 

The girl shook her head and went to the laundry area to turn the taps on the sink. The water was pink and rusty, but she didn’t care. Moving her hands under the icy spray, bringing her now clean hands up to wipe away the blood and dust from her face. The cold water grounding her back to reality again. Taking a deep breath she reminded herself to stay focused, there was so much more at stake now.

 

__________________________________________________

  
  


A few days had passed after the attack on Sanctuary. They were still waiting for the vault hunters, who Lilith had accidentally phased away when she shifted the city, to get the fast travel up and running again. This kept Roland busy while Lilith recuperated from her stunt.

 

The girl sat back in her bunk she was using temporarily while she stayed at the HQ, her revolver sat in her lap. She’d notice the chamber would stick sometimes, and that would be a problem if she was going to learn to shoot with it. She didn’t want it exploding in her hands. So she got up, tried waving at Roland to let him know she was leaving, but he was too involved in the map on the work table, so she just shook her head and headed downstairs and out of the HQ.

 

She turned the corner and started heading toward Marcus’ shop. She’d heard all kinds of stories about the man, but what she cared most about right now was that he knew guns. If he wasn’t too busy, maybe he could look at her revolver for her.

 

She popped her head just inside, opening the door slowly enough that the bell wouldn’t ring loud enough to alert him and peeked around. Nobody was struggling on the floor with a bullet in their shin, which was generally a good sign anywhere on this planet. She stepped inside and quietly walked up to the counter.

 

“What do you want?” Marcus’ gruff voice seemed to come from nowhere, making the girl jump and stumble over her own feet, only avoiding falling by clinging to the edge of the counter.

 

The girl looked around and Marcus came in from a side room behind the bars dividing his counter and he sat heavily in the chair before leaning closer to get a better look.

 

“Ah, you’re that scavenging little psycho Roland brought in, aren’t you?” he asked, and the girl paused for a moment before nodding. “Well, what do you want?”

 

The girl straightened up, having now remembered why she came again and pulled the revolver from her holster and offering it to him.

 

“Marcus picked it up and looked it over in the light, frowning at scratches in the metal. “You better not be looking to sell this piece of scrap to me.”

 

The girl shook her head so fast, Marcus swore he could hear her brain rattle around in her skull. The girl reached out to take the pistol from him again and showed him how the chamber was stuck and wouldn’t turn anymore.

 

Marcus nodded and hummed. “A simple fix. Leave it with me and you can come get it tomorrow.”

 

The girl stayed, seeming hesitant about leaving Mordecai’s revolver with Marcus but nodded slowly, and Marcus smiled. He leaned in and spoke quietly.

 

“In the meantime, I've just got a crate of spanking-new Maliwan elemental weapons -- wanna help me test them out?”

 

The girl’s eyes lit up and she bounced around excitedly, waiting while Marcus got up and went back into the room he’d come from, coming around and opening the side door for her to come through. 

 

She rushed passed him and looked around, seeing that it was a firing range. She rushed her way up to one of the counters and bounced on the balls of her feet, eagerly waiting to see what Marcus had for her.

 

He handed her the first pistol, and she looked it over before holding it up with both hands to keep her aim steady, looking down the sights at the target and firing, only hitting two of the six shots she fired. 

 

Marcus rubbed his eyes and groaned. “That was terrible kid! Who taught you to hold a gun, huh?” 

 

The girl only looked away ashamed and shrugged before pointing at her chest trying to show him she’s been teaching herself. Marcus groaned and came up behind the girl, lowering himself to a knee with a grunt before grabbing the girl’s shoulders and turning her back to the target.

 

“Here, stand like this. Now put your arms like this,” he explained while moving her body into the right position, and she let him move her like a life sized doll. When Marcus was satisfied he stood back up and backed away to let her shoot. “There, now shoot.”

 

She did, and hit the target every time. A happy coo escaped her throat and she hopped in place, excited to see some improvement.

 

“There, much better kid. Now, let’s move on to something else.”

 

Marcus figured they could skip the electric pistol since she’s been running around with the static revolver already, so he handed her the corrosive pistol instead.

 

“Now be extra careful with this one. Corrosive ammo is a bit trickier to reload,” Marcus explained, turning away to leave her to practice and take her revolver to his desk to work on.

 

She easily hit the target once more and giggled quietly. She opened the chamber and went to reload, but she didn’t take Marcus’ warning to heart and the when she went to fire again it backfired, exploding acid right into her face, making her screech in her throat and fall back, covering her eyes.

 

Marcus shot up from his chair and ran back into the room, cursing to himself when he saw her squirming on the ground and scrubbing at her face. He quickly grabbed his coffee mug and threw the cold coffee on her face. It was important to flush the acid off her skin first, they could find water after. However Marcus was shocked when the girl slowly sat up, wiping the cold coffee from her face only for her to be perfectly fine.

 

Marcus stood there silently for a moment while the girl stood and sheepishly handed him the pistol again and Marcus shook his head. “Either you are one really weird kid… Or Maliwan sent me a bad pistol,” he huffed and looked at the target, seeing it completely corroded away before shaking his head. “Nevermind, as long as you’re eyeballs aren’t melting out of your skull and I’m not going to catch shit from Roland, I don’t care. That’s enough for today. Come back tomorrow and I’ll have your gun fixed up.”

 

The girl nodded and quickly scurried out of the firing range, heading back to the Raider’s HQ to wash her face off before Roland could ask any questions.

 

________________________________________________________

 

It was the next day when the vault hunters finally made their way back to Sanctuary after getting the fast travel back up and running again. The girl ran out to greet each of them with a tight hug, before she climbed up onto Krieg’s shoulders as they headed back to the HQ.

 

“Oh good, you’re not dead,” Roland stated as he straightened up from his position stood hunched over the work table. 

 

Lilith rolled her eyes and leaned back as well. “That’s his way of saying ‘Wow, you’re  badasses, I’m glad you’re okay!’”

 

Roland cleared his throat and seemed slightly bashful, but quickly recovered. “Right, sorry. We’d all be dead if it weren’t for you guys. But we need a plan.”

 

The girl slid off of Krieg’s shoulders and stood beside him, hands on her hips, ready to listen along with the others.

 

“Jack’s getting closer and closer to digging up the Warrior, and we still don’t know where he’s got the vault key stashed.”

 

Everyone in the room tensed when Angel’s voice came over the control center. Roland was angry, but quick to let her speak when they heard she had the vault key. 

 

After listening to her talk about the hurdles they’d have to overcome to get to the vault key, Roland rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed, turning back to the group of vault hunters.

 

“If anyone’s going to shut her down, it has to be you soldiers. Head to the Hyperion preserve - I think I know how to get past the first hurdle.”

 

The vault hunters nodded and turned to filter out of the room, leaving the young girl alone with Roland and Lilith, unsure what to do with herself.

 

When Roland noticed she was still standing there, he turned to her and put a hand on her shoulder. “I think you should go with them kid. You’ve gotten much better at handling yourself with a gun and I think they could use the help. I’m sending them to go find Mordecai, he’s camped out near the preserve.”

 

The girl perked up at the mention of Mordecai and Roland couldn’t help but grin as he continued. “I think Mordecai needs help with something, and I’m sure he’d like to see you as well.”

 

The girl shook her head, but saluted Roland anyway, before turning to run and catch up with the vault hunters. Climbing into the truck with Gaige, Maya, and Krieg, while the others crowded into a second to follow after them.

 

After a short while of driving the girl gently placed her forehead against the window, looking out as cliffs and snow passed by them.

 

Even though she didn’t see him much anymore, Mordecai had been the one who saved her. And not just from bandits. Her rations had been running low and she wasn’t sure if she’d make it much longer on her own, even with Ellie’s help. The scorching sun hanging over the barren dust was no place for a child to grow. She owed her life to Mordecai.

 

She opened her eyes when they stopped at the entrance of a cave. She must have dozed off. Shaking her head she hopped out of the truck and stretched, coming to join the others. There was a nervous tension in her stomach that she couldn’t quite place, but she ignored it and followed them in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey thanks for reading my fic :) Don't forget to comment and let me know what you think, and if you want me to continue doing what I do!


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